I am a bit shocked that this is still going. I mean the "debate" whether Blizzard had the right to do it. Or whether they are assholes to do so. Please, do not waste your time on this. I suggest we all talk about how to persuade Blizzard to change their mind of THEM hosting previous version (high unlikely but still more logical than be a lunatic and demand others property).
Please keep also in mind that the property is not just the actual C++ code! It is the lore, the plots, the quests (as a concept) and so much more. You cannot expect a company to give it that for free to a bunch of (talented) people that make money. The same if they even did not make money.